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Kevin Sites Detained By Fedayeen Near Tikrit
Aired April 11, 2003 - 14:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to go to Erbil right now. That's in northern Iraq. That's where our Kevin Sites is standing by, one of our reporters.
Kevin, I know you went through quite an ordeal today. I believe in Tikrit, the hometown, the ancestral home town of Saddam Hussein, which has not been the scene, has not been visited by many Western journalists in recent years. Tell us -- tell us what you went through.
KEVIN SITES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the headline is we were taken captive by Iraqi Fedayeen at a checkpoint just outside Tikrit.
As you know, we've been reporting outside of Chamchamal since the war began, waiting for the fall of Kirkuk. Yesterday we actually got into Kirkuk, into the city. We saw the celebrations by the people. We saw the statue come down.
And we had several reporters there so we decided to head to the outskirts out of town and see how far the retreat was. We actually got about 20 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk and we ran into Iraqi checkpoint yesterday. Actually, Iraqi Army paratroopers were manning the check point 20 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk after the city had fallen.
Well, we decided to -- to back off from that, spend the night in Kirkuk. And today made another run towards Tikrit. That checkpoint was abandoned at that point and we drove within 30 kilometers Tikrit -- of Tikrit. That's, obviously, Saddam Hussein's birthplace, stronghold of his supporters. And we had been very cautious going along the way. Every 3,000 meters we would stop, use our binoculars, see how far the Kurdish fighters, the Peshmerga, had gotten.
And as we moved up on a final checkpoint, some men beckoned us to come a little bit closer. We looked at them. They didn't look like Peshmerga. And they stopped us. And we -- we told them that we were journalists. And they basically made us get out of the car and they told us we were American spies, started to get very angry with us, started to point their Kalashinikovs at us. We said we're journalists. We're not here to do you any harm. We simply want to see what's going on in Tikrit.
And at that point they started to get very violent. They pointed their gun at me and said, This one is certainly an American, pointed his AK-47 and shot a round at my feet. At that point, they made us get down on the ground on our knees. Now, the team I'm talking about is Bill Skinner (ph), my photographer, Richard Mitchellson, who is one of the security people that have been helping us here AKE and a translator, Tofik (ph). He is a Kurdish national. And I have to say, without Tofik, we probably wouldn't be alive today.
Tofik talked to these gentlemen, Wolf, the whole time that they were holding us captive -- you know, tried to calm them down, say that we're not here to do any harm. But, you know, they felt that certainly we were American spies. They kicked Bill Skinner in the head. They kicked Mitch in the head and in the ribs. And they tied me up. They tied my hands behind my back and threw us in a truck and said that they were going to take us to Tikrit, to the intelligence headquarters.
And, basically, at that point, our -- our translator, Tofik, said if they take you to the headquarters of the intelligence service, you're certainly going to die. You'll be executed.
Now one of the -- the men that was in the truck with us was a villager. And he said since we captured these men in the village, we should take them to the village elders and talk to them first. And that was probably the saving grace, Wolf.
They took us to the village -- village elders and we talked to them. And Tofik was very fast on his feet. He said, If you kill these men there could be great retribution for you. There could be -- the town could be bombarded. There could be great trouble for you. And he basically went on the offensive and scared them a bit. And basically they started to back off at that point. But they held us for another two hours there, questioned us.
And the people of the village, I have to say, Wolf, were very kind to us. They didn't want any trouble. The Fedayeen were the people that were the most aggressive. And it just gives an indication that the area south of Kirkuk, going towards Tikrit, is still very much in the control of Saddam Hussein supporters. They're still very much in control there. They still believe in his government and they're willing to make a last stand. So it was a scary day today. We got out with the clothes on our back. They took all of our gear. We -- our camera gear, our videophones, everything we needed to do our job, they took. They put a bullet through the engine block of our truck.
And so we were able to limp back with one vehicle and our lives. But we're lucky to have that -- Wolf.
BLITZER: It sounds obviously like a terrifying ordeal, all of you had to go through. A few questions if we can, Kevin. From beginning to end, how many hours did this all take to play out?
SITES: Well, we arrived at the checkpoint about 11:00 a.m. this morning. We got up very early. And as I said, we were traveling down that road to Tikrit very slowly. We were cautious. We weren't trying to get ahead of the Peshmerga. The Peshmerga had moved their frontlines forward and we felt like we were moving with them. In fact, we were traveling with them a great deal of the time.
But when we actually got to this checkpoint, we seemed to be a bit ahead of them. And when we actually got there, it was about 11:00 a.m. And from the time that we were captured to the time that we were released, it was about four hours total.
And I guess the most terrifying aspect of it Wolf, was not -- you know, there were times when we truly thought we were going to die. They -- they put the muzzle against the head of my translator, Tofik. As I said, they shot a round off at my feet. They shot a couple other rounds off.
But it was the rollercoaster ride. It was, like, the times when they really said they were going to kill us and then the times they said they were going to set us free. It kept on going back and forth for about four hours. And that was the most frightening aspect of it -- the uncertainty of the whole thing.
BLITZER: Kevin, we're happy you made it out of there safe and sound. I assume everybody else is battered, shaken, very upset, obviously. Totally understandable. But at least all four of you are alive and thanks to your interpreter, especially, for getting you out of this jam, underscore the lawlessness that still continues, the violence that still continues, the danger for journalists and others, especially as you get closer to Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown, the place where we widely expect the last stand to occur in this war, if there's going to be a last stand.
Kevin Sites, thank God you and your colleagues are OK right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 11, 2003 - 14:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to go to Erbil right now. That's in northern Iraq. That's where our Kevin Sites is standing by, one of our reporters.
Kevin, I know you went through quite an ordeal today. I believe in Tikrit, the hometown, the ancestral home town of Saddam Hussein, which has not been the scene, has not been visited by many Western journalists in recent years. Tell us -- tell us what you went through.
KEVIN SITES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the headline is we were taken captive by Iraqi Fedayeen at a checkpoint just outside Tikrit.
As you know, we've been reporting outside of Chamchamal since the war began, waiting for the fall of Kirkuk. Yesterday we actually got into Kirkuk, into the city. We saw the celebrations by the people. We saw the statue come down.
And we had several reporters there so we decided to head to the outskirts out of town and see how far the retreat was. We actually got about 20 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk and we ran into Iraqi checkpoint yesterday. Actually, Iraqi Army paratroopers were manning the check point 20 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk after the city had fallen.
Well, we decided to -- to back off from that, spend the night in Kirkuk. And today made another run towards Tikrit. That checkpoint was abandoned at that point and we drove within 30 kilometers Tikrit -- of Tikrit. That's, obviously, Saddam Hussein's birthplace, stronghold of his supporters. And we had been very cautious going along the way. Every 3,000 meters we would stop, use our binoculars, see how far the Kurdish fighters, the Peshmerga, had gotten.
And as we moved up on a final checkpoint, some men beckoned us to come a little bit closer. We looked at them. They didn't look like Peshmerga. And they stopped us. And we -- we told them that we were journalists. And they basically made us get out of the car and they told us we were American spies, started to get very angry with us, started to point their Kalashinikovs at us. We said we're journalists. We're not here to do you any harm. We simply want to see what's going on in Tikrit.
And at that point they started to get very violent. They pointed their gun at me and said, This one is certainly an American, pointed his AK-47 and shot a round at my feet. At that point, they made us get down on the ground on our knees. Now, the team I'm talking about is Bill Skinner (ph), my photographer, Richard Mitchellson, who is one of the security people that have been helping us here AKE and a translator, Tofik (ph). He is a Kurdish national. And I have to say, without Tofik, we probably wouldn't be alive today.
Tofik talked to these gentlemen, Wolf, the whole time that they were holding us captive -- you know, tried to calm them down, say that we're not here to do any harm. But, you know, they felt that certainly we were American spies. They kicked Bill Skinner in the head. They kicked Mitch in the head and in the ribs. And they tied me up. They tied my hands behind my back and threw us in a truck and said that they were going to take us to Tikrit, to the intelligence headquarters.
And, basically, at that point, our -- our translator, Tofik, said if they take you to the headquarters of the intelligence service, you're certainly going to die. You'll be executed.
Now one of the -- the men that was in the truck with us was a villager. And he said since we captured these men in the village, we should take them to the village elders and talk to them first. And that was probably the saving grace, Wolf.
They took us to the village -- village elders and we talked to them. And Tofik was very fast on his feet. He said, If you kill these men there could be great retribution for you. There could be -- the town could be bombarded. There could be great trouble for you. And he basically went on the offensive and scared them a bit. And basically they started to back off at that point. But they held us for another two hours there, questioned us.
And the people of the village, I have to say, Wolf, were very kind to us. They didn't want any trouble. The Fedayeen were the people that were the most aggressive. And it just gives an indication that the area south of Kirkuk, going towards Tikrit, is still very much in the control of Saddam Hussein supporters. They're still very much in control there. They still believe in his government and they're willing to make a last stand. So it was a scary day today. We got out with the clothes on our back. They took all of our gear. We -- our camera gear, our videophones, everything we needed to do our job, they took. They put a bullet through the engine block of our truck.
And so we were able to limp back with one vehicle and our lives. But we're lucky to have that -- Wolf.
BLITZER: It sounds obviously like a terrifying ordeal, all of you had to go through. A few questions if we can, Kevin. From beginning to end, how many hours did this all take to play out?
SITES: Well, we arrived at the checkpoint about 11:00 a.m. this morning. We got up very early. And as I said, we were traveling down that road to Tikrit very slowly. We were cautious. We weren't trying to get ahead of the Peshmerga. The Peshmerga had moved their frontlines forward and we felt like we were moving with them. In fact, we were traveling with them a great deal of the time.
But when we actually got to this checkpoint, we seemed to be a bit ahead of them. And when we actually got there, it was about 11:00 a.m. And from the time that we were captured to the time that we were released, it was about four hours total.
And I guess the most terrifying aspect of it Wolf, was not -- you know, there were times when we truly thought we were going to die. They -- they put the muzzle against the head of my translator, Tofik. As I said, they shot a round off at my feet. They shot a couple other rounds off.
But it was the rollercoaster ride. It was, like, the times when they really said they were going to kill us and then the times they said they were going to set us free. It kept on going back and forth for about four hours. And that was the most frightening aspect of it -- the uncertainty of the whole thing.
BLITZER: Kevin, we're happy you made it out of there safe and sound. I assume everybody else is battered, shaken, very upset, obviously. Totally understandable. But at least all four of you are alive and thanks to your interpreter, especially, for getting you out of this jam, underscore the lawlessness that still continues, the violence that still continues, the danger for journalists and others, especially as you get closer to Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown, the place where we widely expect the last stand to occur in this war, if there's going to be a last stand.
Kevin Sites, thank God you and your colleagues are OK right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
